in't that wheels?"

"It be," answered her mother. "It be that old Ma'am Yellett after her
gov'ment."

IX

Mrs. Yellett And Her "Gov'ment"

The buckboard drew up to the back or open-faced entrance of the Rodney
house with a splendid sweep, terminating in a brilliantly staccato halt,
as if to convey to the residents the flattering implication that their
house was reached via a gravelled driveway, rather than across lumpish
inequalities of prairie overgrown with cactus stumps and clumps of
sage-brush. From the buckboard stepped a figure whose agility was
compatible with her driving.

No sketchy outline can do justice to Mrs. Yellett or her costume. Like the
bee, the ant, and other wonders of the economy of nature, she was not to
be disposed of with a glance. And yet there was no attempt at subtlety on
her part; on the contrary, no one could have an appearance of greater
candor than the lady whose children Mary Carmichael had come West to
teach. Her costume was a thing apart, suggesting neither sex, epoch, nor
personal vanity, but what it lacked of these more usual sartorial
characteristics, it more than made up in a passionate individualism; an
excessively short skirt, so innocent of "fit" or "hang" in its wavering,
indeterminate outline as to suggest the possible workmanship of teeth
rather than of scissors; and riding-boots coming well to the knee,
displaying a well-shaped, ample foot, perched aloft on the usual high heel
that cow-punchers affect as the expression of their chiefest vanity. But
Mrs. Yellett was not wholly mannish in her tastes, and to offset the boots
she wore a bodice of the type that a generation ago used to be known as a
"basque." It fitted her ample form as a cover fits a pin-cushion, the row
of jet buttons down the front looking as if a deep breath might cause them
to shoot into space at any moment with the force of Mauser bullets.

Such a garb was not, after all, incongruous with this original lady's
weather-beaten face. Her skin was tanned to a fine russet, showing tiny,
radiating lines about the eyes when they twinkled with laughter, which was
often. No individual feature was especially striking, but the general
impression of her countenance was of animation and activity, mingled with
geniality and with native shrewdness.

"Howdy, Miz Yellett," called out old Sally, hitching her rocker forward,
in an excitement she could ill conceal. "You-uns' gov'ment come,